Group Protests Plan to Charge Fee to Enter 9/11 Museum

By DAVID W. DUNLAP
Published: April 11, 2006

The public will have to "pay to grieve" if an admission fee is imposed at the World Trade Center museum, a group of 9/11 victims' relatives is charging.Skip to next paragraph
General visitors will have access to two major elements of the 9/11 memorial — a contemplation room and a chamber for unidentified remains — only by passing through the museum, though relatives will have access through a private elevator.

"Would we charge admission for anyone in the country to go to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier?" asked Tim Sumner, whose brother-in-law, Lt. Joseph G. Leavey of Ladder Company 15 in Lower Manhattan, was killed responding to the 2001 attack.

The contemplative centerpiece of the 9/11 memorial — one level below the galleries in which the victims' names are to be inscribed — will be a large room at the center of the north tower footprint, almost at bedrock level but open to the sky, with a symbolic mortuary vessel at its center.

Behind the east wall of this room will be a repository for unidentified remains. Surrounding both rooms will be the remnants of the tower's original perimeter columns.

Both features were conceived as part of the memorial, which will be free. The general public will be able to reach this area only through the museum because of the architectural layout of the spaces. If the museum charges admission, the public will have to pay to visit the contemplation room.

Gretchen Dykstra, the president and chief executive of the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation, which will build and operate the memorial, said yesterday, "I think it's not fair to say that somehow the public has to pay to grieve."

She added, "It implies that you cannot be contemplative in the memorial itself."

As to the repository for unidentified remains, she noted that it would be closed to the public anyway. Only the relatives will be admitted to a viewing room that will offer a glimpse into the storage area.

Two weeks ago, Ms. Dykstra told a City Council committee that it would be "perfectly reasonable" to charge an admission fee to meet operating expenses for the memorial complex, which she said might exceed $40 million a year. Later that week, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg spoke in favor of the idea.
Ms. Dykstra told the Council that she would "strenuously" make the case for a fee — yet to be specified — to the foundation board.

The board has not yet considered the matter. The memorial and museum are to open on Sept. 11, 2009.

On Saturday, Mr. Sumner posted a critique on the Take Back the Memorial Web site on behalf of the Coalition of 9/11 Families, which has been strongly critical of the memorial design and development process. He noted that a fee for the museum would also place the contemplation room behind turnstiles.
Mr. Sumner's posting said coalition members "strenuously object to having the unidentified remains of the 9/11 victims and their tomb treated as a museum exhibit" and also objected to the notion of "denying the public — who will pay for this memorial through both their tax dollars and contributions — the right to descend to bedrock to stand on the historic site and pay their respects as the memorial intended."

Under the guiding principles developed in 2003 by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation for the World Trade Center memorial competition, five key requirements were presented to prospective designers. One was "an area for quiet visitation and contemplation." Another was "separate accessible space to serve as a final resting place for the unidentified remains from the World Trade Center site."

The layout and placement of the contemplation room occurred two years ago, before there was any talk about admission fees at the museum. Development corporation officials concluded that it would be difficult as a matter of engineering and undesirable from the standpoint of a visitor's experience to link the gallery level and bedrock level directly for anyone except family members.